Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Welcome back and happy Tuesday! It was so nice to have a 3-day weekend. Too bad every weekend is not like that. It would really help a lot! There are only 2 short weeks left of school. This is the last real week and then the first week in June is really just a play week for the kids at school. I'm not even sure why they bother but at least there shouldn't be much stress or homework involved and I'm all for that.

Here's a look at last week-

Day 138- Monday, 5/18/15
No homework for Justin today so he gets to relax and lounge until we head to swim. The pets are lounging in their favorite spots too. This is where you can usually find them when we are not home during the day.

Day 139- Tuesday, 5/19/15

Brandon is doing computer generated illustrations for his chapter book due Friday. It amazes me what he can do on the computer. I didn't even know we had a program that allowed him to do that. Go Brandon go! Later that evening we wait as Justin works through his karate class.

Day 140- Wednesday, 5/20/15

Typical teen scene. Tyler is looking up his schedule on the phone for certain activities this week so we can make drop off and pick up plans.

Day 141- Thursday, 5/21/15

5th grade field trip to San Francisco. The kids got to play at the Exploratorium in its new location by the wharf. We haven't been since it moved so it was nice to see the changes. I probably won't be going on too many more field trips after this. Sniff, sniff--my babies are growing up.

Day 142- Friday, 5/22/15

It's a bright and warm author day at the school where the kids share their writings with the parents during a picnic lunch. This is Brandon's finished chapter book. It ended up being 4 chapters long and he was pleased with how it all turned out even though he was less than thrilled he had to include some American history in the story line. The boy just does not like history right now.

Day 143- Saturday, 5/23/15

We spent most the day cleaning house and doing yard work to prep for a bbq party tomorrow so the last thing anyone wanted to do was cook. Justin agreed to tag along so we could pick up some burgers and shakes. That hit the spot and was well deserved by all who pitched in to help.

Day 144- Sunday, 5/24/15

We threw a Memorial weekend bbq party today so we could have Monday to recuperate. We enjoyed the company of a lot of great friends, ate way too much wonderful grilled food, enjoyed some fresh sangria, and it was just warm enough to open the pool for the summer. Good times!

That's it! May is almost done! School is almost out! We are more than ready for some summer fun. What will you do this summer?

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Welcome back and happy Tuesday! It will be yet another busy week with work samples coming in, protocols to sort out, field trips to take, projects due, swim practice and evening meetings. It's the end of school year craziness. Only 3 more weeks of school left though so we'll power through and then enjoy the break. Summer break--I can't wait!

Take a peek at last week:

Day 131- Monday, 5/11/15

We're at swim practice 3 days a week for 2 hours straight. Justin just finished and is now playing video games while we wait on his brother.

Day 132- Tuesday, 5/12/15

Tyler's been hitting the gym after school to lift weights and try to bulk up. It did help his swim times this year, and he could really use the mass for water polo. When he gets home he makes a Muscle Milk smoothy in the Magic Bullet before tackling homework.

Day 133- Wednesday, 5/13/15

It's a minimum day at school and Justin is busy staying after for something so Brandon came with me to run a few errands near Arden. I got this bracelet from the boys for Mother's Day which I love because they so painstakingly picked out the perfect charms, but the clasp needed fixing since it's way too hard to open and close. We stopped at Jared's to get that fixed and then headed to the mall to return a shirt and pick up some red swim trunks for Tyler's job. Brandon's reward for keeping me company was a S'mores frappuchino new at Starbucks this summer. He's been wanting to try one and earned it today.

Day 134- Thursday, 5/14/15

He takes off his shoes but not his backpack before hitting the pantry when we get home from school. Priorities!

Day 135- Friday, 5/15/15

Bam! Ten weeks of 2015 documented in Project Life spreads all printed and ready for an album. The prints showed up today and are amazing quality. I have very little time to do scrapbooking anymore, but they have this new app so I can do it all on my ipad mini very quickly while waiting at kid's activities and appointments. The next 10 weeks are almost ready too so I'll be all caught up with this year. I can order the prints straight from the app, and they also have these new 8x8 sizes which make for a more manageable album than the traditional 12x12. Oh, and the flower--nature is a must on my blog. Before heading to swim I made it out into the backyard today and noticed that my Iris was in bloom. Happy mail! Happy day!

Day 136- Saturday, 5/16/15

We're here at the Dolphin's Blue and White swim meet. This is a time trial meet so the kids swam in every event which makes for a long day. At least the weather was pleasant--a bit windy and chilly in the morning but perfect by mid-day.

Day 137- Sunday, 5/17/15

Oh!--where might we be going this summer? I took the kids to get their passport pictures done and filled out all the paperwork today to get this process started. I'm hoping we'll make it to Mexico by the end of July, but I can't book anything just yet. We're still waiting on Tyler's summer schedule to be little more set. At least I can work on the passports. They'll take 4-6 weeks to process.

That's it for now. See you next week in the last week of May! WooHoo! Yes I'm excited to wrap up May.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Here we are at another Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by. I thought May would be much easier than April, but it's true-- the grass is always greener on the other side. Honestly, things will not get better until school is out. Only 4 more weeks! And there seems to be so much crammed into those 4 weeks it's just insane. Talk about going out with bang.

As for now, here are last week's pictures:

Day 124- Monday, 5/4/15

Brandon made fast friends at a work BBQ. He was in pet heaven, and there were also chickens so he got to collect eggs and bring them home. It turned out to be a really fun party for him even though there were no other kids. My two older boys were off doing their own thing and John was still working so Brandon was stuck with me. Thankfully he ended up not minding so much ;0)

Day 125- Tuesday, 5/5/15
It's Cinco de Mayo and sadly all we have time for is a run to the border at Taco Bell. These two didn't mind, and I already had a nice catered Mexican feast at work. John is out at a work dinner, and Justin is with his 8th grade class at the Marin Headlands Nature Bridge Camp near San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge. It looks amazing there, and I hope he's having a good time.

Day 126- Wednesday, 5/6/15

He's back! The bus just pulled up and all these grubby 8th graders filed off. It's great to have Justin home from camp, and I can't wait to hear all about. He seemed to really enjoy the Marine Mammal Center, the food, and the nature hikes. He was less than thrilled with the sleeping arrangements and can't wait to sleep in his own bed tonight.

Day 127- Thursday, 5/7/15
Brandon printed out the last pieces of his state poster today. Earlier in the year they had to make a travel brochure for their state and it needed to be included on the poster as a handout--done!He turns it in tomorrow with his binder and then next week they present to their class and have a state fair where they share food from each state. He'll be bringing Virgina baked ham.

Day 128- Friday, 5/8/15

We have a few baby tomatoes starting to grow out back, and Justin's pepper plant is also thiving and has the starts of some hot chili peppers. In other news, I told you Brandon was loosing teeth fast and furious--one last week and another this week with still a couple more loose. This one came out at school earlier in the week but because they had a sub she felt the need to hold onto it and then forgot until he reminded her today that he needed his tooth back!

Day 129- Saturday, 5/9/15

It's movie time. We took the boys to see the new Avengers movie at Studio Movie Grill. This was their first time there so it was a pretty exciting experience for them. I teased them by saying we see Cinderella instead just because it's Mother's Day weekend. They were not amused.

Day 130- Sunday, 5/10/15

Happy Mother's Day! John and the boys spent the day spoiling me. They made me a French toast breakfast, washed my car, showered me with gifts, and worked together on a homemade pizza meal for dinner. I'm one lucky lady, and I hope all you other mothers out there had a wonderful day as well.

Ok that's it! We're gearing up for swim trials this coming weekend which means Dolphin's swim will be in full effect for my younger two. Tyler opted out this year so he can focus on his life-guarding job and water polo.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Welcome back and Happy Tuesday. Here we are in May! I like May. It's the last full month of school, swim practice times are much better, and the month ends with a 3 day weekend. We can't wait to work our way through May and head into summer break. We have a beach trip and camping trip planned so far. I wonder what else we'll do this summer? Until then . . .

Take a look at last week's pictures:

Day 117- Monday, 4/27/15

The hot weather is upon us. This week started out nice and toasty and continued to heat up through the week. I walked Bella this afternoon in that heat and as soon as we got home she sacked out on the cool kitchen floor. Love those worn and worked paws. They've been around the block a few times ;0)

Day 118- Tuesday, 4/28/15

Brandon lost another molar. You can see the upper blank space on his right side. The tooth fairy left him 2 gold coins this time around and he was impressed. She better take it easy though because he still has a couple more loose ones. They seem to never end!

Day 119- Wednesday, 4/29/15

Rusty can see birds and bugs flying around in our front entry from the landing on the stairs, and he likes to perch here to watch all the activity especially when the birds seem to get stuck and make all kinds of racket trying to escape.

Day 120- Thursday, 4/30/15

LOL! He was squinting so I told him to open his eyes but he couldn't do it without making his smile even bigger than it already is. It's hot out again and were waiting for Tyler's turn at US HealthWorks for his summer job's drug test. The wait is 1 1/2 hrs and there were no seats left inside so we decided to wait down the street at Starbucks. Two hours later the test was finally done and we could go home. Crazy! A place like that should really take appointments.

Day 121- Friday, 5/1/15

Happy May day! My roses are really taking off and filling the yard with a lot of great color for the start of May. I spent the rest of the day with the swim team at the high school league championship meet in Yuba City. These crazy kids did it. Both the girls and boys took first place and became league champs. Great job River City!

Day 122- Saturday, 5/2/15

Justin had tennis this morning and even though the wind picked up it was still hot and wore him out. He dramatically hit the floor as soon as we got home and said he needed to stay there until he recovered. Yeah whatever! He better get used to playing in the heat because he'll be doing tennis a lot this summer to help prep for the high school team. Later John and I went to a fight night party. The fight was a dud but the party was fun. It was great to see and catch up with everyone.

Day 123- Sunday, 5/3/15

John is happy the Golden State Warriors are doing so well in basketball this year and are favored in the playoffs. He grew up supporting this team, and they were great back in the day but have pretty much done nothing for the past 20 years. He's thrilled to see the comeback. After watching the game he made a great Sunday dinner with steak and shrimp. It was a yummy way to end our weekend and the perfect send-off dinner for Justin who leaves tomorrow morning with his class on their 8th grade trip.

Ok that's it! Happy Cinco de Mayo. I'll have to track down some Mexican food for dinner tonight. Wish we didn't have karate starting back up so we could enjoy it without rushing.